


Trouble

by CaramelDarling



Category: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs
Genre: Ear Piercings, M/M, is this fanfic or vague instructions on how to pierce your ear at home no one knows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-22
Updated: 2016-11-22
Packaged: 2018-09-01 12:59:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8625352
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaramelDarling/pseuds/CaramelDarling
Summary: After Jacob has a fight with his mom, Ricky convinces him they should pierce their ears to piss her off.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Have this short and silly fic while I edit the continuation of Chlorine Monsters.
> 
> (Spent forty five minutes thinking about this ship while I was on the light rail and this is what came to me)

Ricky lets out a puff of smoke, his cigarette dangling out the rolled-down window of his car. His green hair is slicked back, his leather jacket is unzipped so Jacob can make out his band t-shirt underneath, and his lips are curled into a mischievous smile. He’s the perfect picture of Trouble. At least, that’s what Jacob’s parents would say.

“You know what would really piss off your mom?” Ricky says. “If you pierced your ear with me.”

Jacob thinks about the argument he’s just had with his mom. He’s still burning with anger, but he wonders if piercing his ear is going too far. He touches his ear, imagines what it would look like pierced, and hesitates. It would definitely cause another fight.

Ricky puts out his cigarette in the ashtray between them and leans over to ruffle Jacob’s hair, making it look wilder. “Mmh, yeah,” he says. “It’ll look hot.”

Jacob looks at himself in the passenger seat mirror. He doesn’t know what Ricky’s talking about when he says “hot” - all he sees is a mess. But when he looks at Ricky, he sees a mess too. A carefully constructed mess, one that _can_ successfully be called “hot”. He thinks, maybe he wouldn’t mind incorporating some of it into himself. “Fine,” he says. “Let’s do it.”

They drive to Ricky’s house. His mom is at work and Ricky says they better do it before she comes back, claiming his mom is a million times scarier than Jacob’s when she’s mad. Jacob has only met his mom a few times, but enough to doubt Ricky’s claim.

Jacob waits in Ricky’s room, on the floor, as he collects the things they need; a needle, rubbing alcohol, ice. Of course, Jacob knew Ricky meant they were going to pierce their ears themselves, but now that he’s waiting he’s getting nervous. He rubs his ear, trying to imagine what the new metal will feel like. If he’ll like it all or if it’ll just make him look ridiculous.

When Ricky comes back, he’s somehow managed to balance everything in his arms so perfectly there’s no risk of anything falling. If Jacob tried that, they’d have already lost the earrings and the needle underneath Ricky’s bed. The earrings are in a clear container filled with rubbing alcohol. Jacob can smell it from where he sits. Ricky puts everything down on the floor by Jacob’s feet with relative ease, which Jacob is also impressed by. He picks out one of the earrings and shows it to Jacob. “What do you think?”

It’s solid black and circular, a stud. “I like it.”

Ricky grins. “Good.” He takes out his lighter and picks up the needle. “You first?”

“Uhh, I don’t know.”

“Come on, Special Ed. Don’t chicken out on me now. Don’t you trust me?”

Jacob watches his face, his innocent smile. He snorts. “Sure I do.”

“Good, good,” Ricky says, touching Jacob’s ear and leaning in as if to examine it. “Trust is very important here.”

Jacob stares at his leather-clad shoulder until he pulls back.

It takes a while to prepare. Ricky cleans Jacob’s ear, thorough and careful. Jacob’s surprised at Ricky’s concentration, how he’s gone quiet now that he’s started. “I’m gonna numb your ear,” Ricky says right by Jacob’s face.

Jacob shivers. “Mm.”

Ricky grabs the bag of ice and presses it against Jacob’s ear. Jacob flinches slightly at the coldness and closes his eyes. When he opens them again, Ricky’s looking at him, his eyes focused somewhere at the bottom of Jacob’s face. His lips, Jacob thinks and then changes his mind. Why would Ricky be interested in his lips?

Jacob closes his eyes again when it comes time to actually pierce his ear. Ricky presses a cork against the back of his ear and whispers, “It won’t even hurt. Trust me.” Jacob can’t help tensing at the sound of Ricky’s voice, once again _right there_ , but Ricky, somehow knowing exactly what to do, squeezes his shoulder and says, “Really. I promise.” Jacob relaxes. There's a pinching sensation. Jacob steadies his breathing.

Ricky starts counting down slowly from thirty. He’s so close Jacob can feel the heat of his body. Briefly, he wonders if it’s weird he’s so conscious of that. For the remaining seconds, Jacob grows even more conscious of Ricky’s closeness, of the hand holding the cork against the back of his ear, whose fingers have strayed into his dark hair. Ricky has loosened his grip on the needle, nearly letting it go, and Jacob wonders if the cork won’t just keep the needle in place without Ricky’s help. He’s not about to point it out to Ricky, though, not when he’s so concentrated.

After Ricky’s done counting, he takes out the needle and easily slips the earring into Jacob’s ear. Jacob opens his eyes, relieved it’s over. Ricky leans back, examining his work and nodding. “Looks good,” he says and Jacob has to suppress a relieved smile, glad it doesn’t look terrible. “How was it?” Ricky asks. “Not that bad, right?”

“No,” Jacob admits. “Have you done this before?”

“Couple times.” Ricky leans back against his bed. “My turn now.”

“Are-Are you sure? I’ve never done it before…”

Ricky waves him off. “I trust you. It’s easy.”

Jacob doesn’t believe him. He tries to be as thorough and careful as Ricky was with him, but he finds his hands are shaky when he touches Ricky’s skin and he drops the needle once. They have to disinfect it again.

Ricky grabs his wrist before Jacob tries again. “Relax,” he says. “You’re doing fine.”

Jacob flushes a bit, embarrassed that Ricky needed to reassure him, but the words work and after that, it does turn out to be a lot easier than before. Ricky doesn’t even flinch when the needle pierces his ear. His eyes are open through the entire thing, which unnerves Jacob enough that he avoids looking directly at him.

When he goes to grab Ricky’s earring, he pauses. He picks it up and just looks at it for a second. It’s circular, black. “Well?” Ricky says and for some reason his voice is uncertain. “Hurry it up.”

Jacob slips the earring into Ricky’s ear. Ricky breathes out. Jacob’s hands go to his own earring and he thinks for a long second. “Hey,” he says as Ricky stands to check himself out in his bedroom mirror. “Are we wearing matching earrings?”

Ricky grins at him, sits back down beside him, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, and says, “Yes, we are.”

Jacob doesn’t know what to say. Something between them is starting to make sense and he feels a little dumb for not getting it earlier. Ricky leans closer and Jacob meets him halfway, pressing their lips together with surprising ease. It’s easy, but Jacob’s face heats and he hides it in Ricky’s shoulder.

“Hey,” Ricky says, running his fingers through Jacob’s hair. “You know what else will piss off your mom?”

“Hmm?”

“Me.”

**Author's Note:**

> Writing Ricky from Jacob's point of view is fun because he's all suave and cool and stuff. Writing Ricky from Ricky's point of view is more like... Ricky screaming about anything Jacob does lmao
> 
> If you're surprised/confused about the cork (I was like whaat that's a thing) I got my instructions here: http://www.wikihow.com/Safely-Pierce-Your-Own-Ear


End file.
